


How the Sun Sets

by lin_the_bae_fong



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Beaujester Week 2019, Blood and Gore, Day 3: Love Confession, Day 3: Modern AU, F/F, Happy Ending, Human AU, Modern, Zombie AU, but like, implied minor character death, lots of swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-27
Updated: 2019-07-27
Packaged: 2020-07-21 07:56:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19998520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lin_the_bae_fong/pseuds/lin_the_bae_fong
Summary: Beau is at a dive bar, nursing her first drink of the evening, when Patient Zero busts out of the hospital.Jester is 2 floors down from Patient Zero, observing an autopsy for her class with Dr. Clay, when the outbreak starts.It's a Modern-Zombie AU, and I have no self-restraint so it's 6600 words of Modern-Zombie AU. Beaujester Rights.





	How the Sun Sets

**Author's Note:**

> TW: Blood and Gore, offscreen minor character death (Sorry Dairon and Zuala)
> 
> Everyone is human, I left their actual locations vague, but other real life locations are named. I played it fast and loose with character descriptions and places of origin (except Jester, because I enjoy the headcanon of her being Greek).  
> But anyway, enjoy, and happy Beaujester Week.
> 
> "Without warning, as a whirlwind swoops on an oak, Love shakes my heart." -Sappho

Beau is only 3 blocks away from the hospital when patient zero is loosed upon the public. She sees the outbreak in real time, up close and personally, and she watches as mass panic ensues almost immediately after. 

Beau had been in a bar, nursing only her first beer of the evening (sometimes she wonder’s what would’ve happened if she was 4, 5, 6 drinks deep like she usually was at the end of the night), when a man had busted through the front door of the bar screaming.

“RUN! RUN, IT’S-”

And then there was a person, or some _thing_ on top of him, tearing into the back of his neck with gnashing teeth and inuman snarls like it was a foreign delicacy. And for a moment, she’s more scared than she’s ever been in her life, for a moment she freezes, but the moment ends and the flight or fight kicks in.

And as much as she wished she could have been born a bird, she’s never been one to simply fly away. So she puts those high school track records to use and sprints across the bar to grab a pool cue. There’s one that no one touches tucked in a back corner, reserved for the proprietor of the shitty dive bar, and rumor has it that the last person who touched it was beaten to shit and left in a back alley somewhere in the next town over. But the bar owner is currently getting his face munched off by a fucking _zombie_ , so fuck that guy, anyway. Beau grabs the pool stick, testing the weight of the heavy wood and marble inlays. Maybe...a pound? Pound and a half? Yeah that can probably do some damage, Beau thinks.

She gives it a brief twirl before bringing it down with all her weight and speed on the back of the first zombies head, and Beau groans in disgust at the sickening crunch that comes from it as it slumps forward, dead. For real this time. 

Or at least that’s what Beau hopes, but she doesn’t plan on staying around long enough to find out. 

Beau books it out of the bar with the pool cue still grasped in her hand. She doesn’t mentally decide on a location to run to, but her legs seem to decide for her as she rounds the corner onto the street her work is located on. She realizes she’s a little more than worried about Dairon, and turns the run into a sprint. 

The Cobalt Soul Martial Arts School was relatively decent in size, teeming with students of all ages willing to learn the way of self discipline and kicking ass. Beau thinks it’s silly really, that she’s so worried about her mentor, when it was the advanced class night and everyone in there could easily handle a zombie or two. Dairon alone could probably handle like, 20. 

But as Beau made her way closer, her heart pumping out of her chest and her legs aching from exertion, she realizes with dawning horror that she might be justified in her fear. The windows that encase the front of the building are all gone, shattered across the ground like dangerous snow glinting in the streetlights. The left half of the building has started to catch fire, and as Beau looks through the smoke, she figures that the fucking flipped car sitting in the training room probably has something to do with it. There’s a wild snarling noise coming from the car, mixed with almost animalistic anguished screams. Beau takes a hesitant step toward the building, preparing herself for what she might find of her mentor-

Something tackles into Beau with immense speed and power, and on reflex she’s got the pool cue up between her and the assailant. The snarls are louder now, right in front of her fucking face actually, and the smell of rotting flesh is so intense she has to hold back a gag. Teeth pierce into the pool stick, some staying embedded in the wood as the jaw opens and closes and gnashes against it. Beau feels sticky warmth trickle down from her eyebrow and past her temple, and she’s feeling a little lightheaded. 

Which isn’t fucking great, given her current situation. Beau tries to push the zombie off but the asshole isn’t light by any means and he’s _wiggly_ and Beau feels the dread sinking into her chest like a snake coiled around her heart and _fuck I can’t fucking die like this-_

“Beauregard!” 

Suddenly the zombie is gone, rolling off her and into the road, and Dairon is there and _fuck_ Beau doesn’t give a shit if she’s crying, she’s giving her a god damn hug. 

“ _Thank_ you.” Beau whispers. Dairon pushes her away harshly though, and Beau almost gets mad that Dairon would lecture her about boundaries _now_ of all times- there’s blood. There is a lot of blood, and as Beau follows the path of it up their tanktop to the source and gasps. 

Dairon is wheezing, and from the look of the bite mark hemorrhaging from the junction of her shoulder and neck, it’s a miracle their even _standing._

“Dairon-?”

“You need to run, Beauregard.”

There's more snarling from inside the Cobalt Soul.

“I can’t leave you like this-”

“I’m done, Beauregard. Go. Now.” Dairon is stumbling back toward what remains of her gym.

“But you’ll turn-” Beau feels herself choking on tears, and she glances back at the zombie starting to rouse behind her.

“I-...I will handle this. Run. _Now._ ” Dairon uses _that_ voice, the one that leaves no room for argument. Beau feels her feet moving faster than her brain as she runs and runs and keeps running, until she’s in her apartment boarding up the doors and windows. Once satisfied everything will hold, she sinks into the corner of the living room. She hugs the pool cue to her chest, and what starts as a few silent tears quickly turns to body-wracking sobs.

X-x-X

Jester is at the hospital when patient zero gets loose. She’s observing an autopsy by Dr. Clay to make up some extracurricular volunteer time for her classes. Dr. Clay is an...interesting guy. He smells like cloves and spices and tea and speaks with a deep, soothing rumble in his chest that makes even the most squeamish of students feel at ease. 

Most interestingly though is just how the dude _looks_. He’s easily 7 feet tall, and his long, pink hair is currently pulled back into a bun, revealing an undercut. His skin is as pale as the cadaver he’s currently cutting into. It’s kinda...reassuring, Jester supposes? That he’s not some stuffy plain doctor, she means.

Jester, with her light brown skin, blue bobbed hair, and full technicolor tattoo sleeves, feels a little reassured that someone a little more her speed is a respected doctor. Maybe one day she will be too? Her fingers brush absentmindedly over the cliche “Mama” heart tattoo on her bicep, and she smiles a bit. _Hope I make you proud, Mama._

Her thoughts are interrupted by a shrill, piercing scream from down the hall and- and… snarling? Everyone but Dr. Clay jumps a mile and turns toward the door.

“Well, that doesn’t sound great. Come on, kids. Move to the corner furthest from the door, please.” Dr. Clay motions. He walks to the keypad besides the glass sliding doors, and Jester hears the telltale noise of an automatic lock. Dr.Clay then makes his way back to the group and hums in contemplation. 

“Maybe someone brought in an animal. It’d be strange for it to be down here, but you never know. Better safe than sorry.” Clay smiles reassuringly at the group, and most of them return the smile, albeit a lot more nervously. Jester, feeling her stomach twisting in knots, does not. Instead she’s staring intently at those glass doors, wondering if they’re thick enough to stop a dog. Probably, right?

Except she can hear bipedal sprinting, and snarling that sounds just adjacent of human and she realizes a moment too late that it’s not an animal they should be worried about. There’s a jarring crash of shattering glass and everyone takes about 2 steps back, including Dr. Clay, and Jester thinks absently that _that_ might be more scary than the thing in the room with them. 

But then Dr. Clay is on the other side of the room banging on the door to the walk in freezer they keep the cadavers in.

“Hey, you! Over here!” He yells at the person and Jester’s attention shifts to it. She feels her stomach bottom out.

It...it’s a person, of course. Jester knew that before she saw them, but everything about it is _wrong_ . The white of it’s eyes are so bloodshot they look almost completely red, and it looks like it’s throat has been torn away. The area around the wound is rapidly decaying before Jester’s very eyes, and the _smell_ has all of them covering their noses and mouths to avoid gagging. 

The creature’s attention snaps to Dr. Clay, he’s making a racket, and Jester watches in horror as it full tilt sprints towards him. Clay doesn’t make a single move until the very last second, where he opens the door to the freezer and sends the creature, the _zombie_ , straight to the back of it before slamming the door and locking it with a heavy duty lever.

“This is bad. We’re running.” Dr. Clay says as he starts rummaging through his desk. The student’s don’t have to be told twice before they’re all scrambling out of the room. Jester waits though, for Dr. Clay. 

He turns around to make his way out and seems to jump a bit as he comes face to face (well, stomach to face) with Jester.

“Are you waiting for me?” He says.

“Well...Yeah. I think maybe you shouldn’t have to be alone, maybe, Dr. Clay.” Her accent is thicker with her nervousness, she thinks, but he seems to understand regardless.

“Thank you, Jester. And, uh, please call me Caduceus. Let’s go.” 

The rest of the students are already gone. Together, they make their way to the elevator, and Jester’s shaking fingers press the button for the ground floor. They wait patiently as the numbers for the floors count down. 

“Do you drive?” Caduceus asks. Jester sniffles a little and shakes her head.

“No, sorry. I walked here from campus.” Caduceus puts a hand on her shoulder and squeezes reassuredly.

“It’s alright. We’re smart. My place is closer, I’m sure we can make it there if we can keep our heads.” Caduceus’ voice almost vibrates into her from where his hand is, and she feels the anxious threads constricting her heart loosen ever so slightly. 

_Yeah_ , she thinks, _just keep it cool._

She can hear the zombie pounding at the door of the freezer in the morgue behind her. 

X-x-X

2 Weeks Later

Before the outbreak, Beau’s shitty little apartment rarely had more than some left over Indian food, a gallon of water, a 6 pack, and a package of bacon. She managed to ration it out as best she could over the length of a week and some change. After that, she’d spent a few very long days just...not eating. Which leads her to her current hell.

She has to leave the apartment. 

Beau doesn’t want to die here, fuckin starving to death, and she doesn’t know if there’s an afterlife but on the off chance there is, she really doesn’t want to get her ghost ass kicked by ghost Dairon. 

Beau does some prepping. She digs into the very back of her closet and pulls out some foam protective gear from when she first started at the Cobalt Soul. She puts on the blue forearm and shin guards, electing that the rest of it would just be encumbering. Beau does a few test punches and kicks to see if the guards will hold, and once satisfied, goes to her gym bag at the foot of her bed. She digs around a little grumbling as she struggles to find what she’s looking for.

“Did I seriously leave them in my fuckin’ locker again- oh thank fuck.” Beau pulls the MMA gloves from her bag with a triumphant grunt and quickly puts them on. She takes a moment to flex her fingers and adjust to the added weight. She goes through a few forms, and if they’re the ones Dairon favored, that’s just a coincidence. Probably. Beau dumps everything out of the gym bag and slings it over her shoulder before heading toward the window that leads to the fire escape. 

X-x-X

Despite Caduceus' very self-sustainable home and garden, their resources dwindled quickly. For starters, it was a garden, not a farm, and unfortunately(?) he’d donated half the garden’s brood to a homeless shelter the morning of the outbreak. Secondly, Caduceus has a roommate (boyfriend??), so that’s 3 mouths being fed. Fjord seems like a nice enough guy. He has that Southwest drawl Jester has heard in the movies. He is pretty handsome, too, like objectively speaking because she really doesn’t know if they are together or not and at this point she is too nervous to ask. He’s got a bit of a ‘dad bod’, he’s pretty tall (but still a whole foot shorter than Caddy), and his skin tone is maybe a little darker than her own, with white patches here and there of vitiligo. He also vaguely smelled of the sea, no matter how many times he washed up.

They have more important matters, though, so now isn’t really the time anyway. They have _maybe_ two days of food left, if they rationed carefully. They are gonna have to leave the house, and she can tell the boys are just as nervous about that as she is. 

“Okay, okay, okay. We need like, a game plan right? First things first, um. Weapons?” She suggests it a little sheepishly. They’re doctors (well, Caduceus is anyway, she was like halfway there) and it’s sort of like, a big no-no to harm people but...but are these even people anymore?

Jester decides she’ll leave that decision up to a philosophy major and instead focus on surviving. 

“Well, I’ve got a harpoon in the closet.” Fjord says and Jester lets out a little burst of laughter because like, _who says that?_

“You’re laughin’ now, Jester, but you’ll be thankin’ me when I’m savin’ your rear.” Fjord teases. Caduceus hums and stands to investigate the hallway closet. Jester watches in amusement as Caddy digs around grumbles to himself before giving a triumphant “Aha!”, and rolls the harpoon to where Fjord and Jester are sat on the floor. Fjord picks it up and tests its weight.

“Let’s see what else we’ve got in here, huh?” Caduceus hums and digs deeper into the back of the closet. There’s more grumbling, a loud clatter and what sounds like boxes falling from something high.

“Ah ok, there is this,” He pulls out a tall, wooden, polished walking stick,

“And there is...this?” 

He steps back from the closet with a whole ass stop sign in his hand, pole and all, and Fjord snorts and covers his mouth. Jester cocks her head to the side and starts laughing.

“What the fuck, Caduceus?” Jester jumps up and goes to retrieve the stop sign. Jester’s pretty beefy, and while it’s certainly not light, it’s not too difficult to wield. She gets an idea and goes to retrieve the paints she has in her backpack.

“That’s uh, mine actually.” Fjord says, smiling as he stands with harpoon in hand. “Stole it with a friend of mine back in the day.”

His smile falters for a moment.

“Man, I hope she’s doin’ alright. Then again, if anyone can survive a zombie apocalypse it’s Beau.”

X-x-X

Beau is sweating her ass off, and she knows it’s her own fault for doubling up on her hoodies for ‘maximum protection’, but still. Shit sucks, man. It’s early fall, though, so at least it’s not as hot as it could’ve been. 

Beau’s been pretty good about sneaking her way through the city, but her hunt for food has been less than fruitful. The shitty liquor stores and gas stations around her apartment had already been picked clean. Which meant she’s probably gonna have to try an _actual_ grocery store or a Walmart or something. She has to make do with memory, when it comes to traversing the city, because of course her shitty apartment’s power went out on like day 3 which means no charged cell phone for her. She’s lived here a long time though, so it’s not too hard at least. 

Beau knows she’s close to the closest chain grocery store, and she still hasn’t seen any zombies so...maybe she gets a little cocky and forgets to check before rounding into another alleyway.

There’s 3 of them. There’s 3 zombies like 10 feet in front of her, and what pisses her off is that she can _see_ the store like, right there. _It’s cool, maybe if I back up real slow-_

She steps on a piece of glass, and it cracks under the heel of her boot.

Beau sighs and lifts the pool cue up in a defensive position. The zombie’s growls and snarls get louder and in seconds, they are upon her. She swings her poolstick down with a deafening crack against the skull of the first zombie. It stumbles back with a yelp and Beau kicks another towards it. She turns to the next one as it grabs at the sleeve of her hoodie and punches it once, twice, three, four times before it lets go and she’s put her poolstick through its eye socket. It crumples to the ground, dead for a second time. 

The first one is back on its feet now, and she gives it a hard roundhouse kick to the head, and there’s a crunch as it collides with the brick wall of the alleyway and falls, unmoving. Beau steps back to handle the last one-

Oh fuck it’s gone. _Where’d it go where’d it go where-_

There’s a shout behind her a bit, back the way she came, and it sounds like a living human. Beau turns around and sprints toward the sound, and she can hear the growls, too. 

“Get the FUCK off my friend!” 

Beau comes to a dead stop around the corner as she sees an absolute fucking _beast_ of a woman completely decapitate a zombie that's on top of someone with...with…

Is that a bass guitar? _Metal._

The woman’s whole vibe screams Metal. Her hair is a monochrome mane of black and white, with braids and plaits throughout. She’s wearing some obscure, sleeveless band shirt that's tattered and faded, and black pants equally so. Black boots kick the corpse off her friend, and a hand with a silver band around the ring finger helps them up. Beau deflates at the sight of the ring a little. _Bummer._

“Thanks, Yash- Oh, seems we have company.” ‘Yash’ instinctively lifts the bass for another swing and Beau quickly throws her arms up. 

“Woahwoahwoah no, I’m a live one! Shit.” Beau chuckles nervously, and the pretty metal chick and her friend seem to relax a little and step a bit closer. Beau can see that ‘Yash’ is seriously probably the tallest woman she’s ever seen, and definitely the most built. There’s a bunch of piercings down the shell of her ears and smudged black make-up around her eyes. Her skin looks like she’s never seen sunlight a day in her life.

“Well, ‘Live One’, I’m Molly, and this is Yasha.You are?” The friend, Molly, speaks with an accent that Beau would describe as “Vaguely Irish”. Beau gets a better look at him, now that he’s not under a thrashing zombie. He’s a lanky one, for sure, and a bit taller than Beau. His skin is sunkissed, some freckles here and there, and he’s wearing a loose white henley and the ugliest fucking patchwork hoodie Beau has ever seen in her life. Seriously it looks like something her grandmother would’ve made, if her grandmother had ever bothered to give her gifts. She also doesn’t see a ring on his finger, which means he’s probably not Yasha’s spouse. Beau tries not to think too hard on what that might mean. 

“I’m Beau. I was heading to that store over there to try and get some supplies...I uh. I wouldn’t mind some muscle, if you guys want to come with?” She asks.

“Well,” Molly looks to Yasha, “What do you think? We need food anyway.”

“I think I’m alright with this, yes.” Yasha replies. Her speaking voice almost gives Beau whiplash when compared to the rage filled shout she’d heard only moments before. It was soft, quiet and once again an accent that Beau could only place as “Vaguely...Nordic? Maybe?”. 

Molly turns his attention back to Beau with a devilish grin.

“Sounds good, Beau. Lead away.”

X-x-X

Jester walked the length of the store with a box of powdered mini-donuts and a stop sign painted like a lollipop strapped to her back. Fjord and Caduceus had stopped letting her pick food to pack because ok fine, maybe most of it was sweets, and _yes, Fjord_ she knows they need things with more nutritional value, but like. That’s just for surviving, and what’s the point of surviving if you don’t let yourself live a little? It was dumb. 

But whatever. More donuts for her. 

She walks down an aisle that has overpriced pots and pans, and she hefts a particular heavy looking cast iron one in her hand. She gives it a few experimental swings before deciding, maybe just a bit _too_ heavy, and puts it back to keep walking. A lot of the store has already been picked clean, but it still has a decent amount of canned goods and non-perishables, so that was good. On the downside, it looks like the first-aid aisle has been pretty heavily raided. All that’s left are some band-aids with unicorns on them.

Jester takes them anyway.

Her head snaps toward the front of the building as she hears the crack of footsteps on broken glass, and immediately presses herself against the shelf to sneak closer. She glances back and sees Fjord and Caduceus inching closer to her in the same way. She presses a finger over her lips. _Quiet._

Jester pulls the ‘lollipop’ out, rears it back ready for a swing, and listens. 

Caduceus stomach growls, and Jester glares daggers at him. He just looks at her with a sheepish shrug. 

The footsteps are closer now, and they’re moving quickly and _ah shit, man this is gonna suck-_

“AHHHHHHH!” Six voices are yelling at once as they all go in for a swing with various weapons and fists, all of them immediately freezing in place as they realize...oh. People. Living actual people. Jester could almost cry-

‘Beau?”

“...Fjord? What the hell are you doin’ here man?” The shorter woman of the other group asks, and Jester can’t help but acknowledge that she is _very_ pretty. Or maybe pretty isn’t the right word, as she takes in the more butch appearance. Handsome is better, Jester thinks. Either way, Jester is smitten. She looks at the other woman and _ho-ly shit_ she’s almost as tall as Caduceus, and about 5 times beefier. 

They seemed like the kind of friends you want in a zombie apocalypse. 

X-x-X

Beau learns the names of Fjord’s friends. Caduceus is cool, and Jester is...a lot, but in the best way. Beau agrees that they are stronger together, that they should get out of the city and find a place they can call sanctuary. She learns that Jester’s mother is agoraphobic, and lives on a secluded estate in the countryside (a few states over, Jester had clarified), and that there’s plenty of room for her and her friends. Beau hopes that Jester’s mother has managed to stay away from all this zombie shit, because this girl with blue hair and tattoos of hamster unicorns is made of sunshine and love, and if anything happens to her Beau is pretty sure she’ll kill everyone and everything she can get her hands on.

And that scares the shit out of Beau, because they’ve only known each other for two weeks. So she distracts herself like she always has; By learning. 

She learns that Fjord’s done some growing since the last time she saw him. He had a reputable job at the docks as a fisherman when all hell broke loose. He seems...close...with this Caduceus guy. She doesn’t really know what’s up with that but he seems more at ease, despite the state of the world. 

Beau learns about Caduceus, or Dr. Clay, apparently. He’s a “Forensic Pathologist” which is a fancy couple of words for someone who does autopsies, and apparently his family has been working with the dead in some way or another for as long as he can trace his lineage back. Which is cool in a weirdly morbid way. Beau likes him, though. There’s a vibe about him that could calm a raging bull. 

She learns some more about Yasha, and she kinda wishes she didn’t, but is also happy there’s a trust there because of it. Turns out she got caught up in some shady stuff where she’s from, and her wife paid the price for it. So she ran. Beau did her best to comfort her that night, maybe a little awkwardly but Yasha appreciated it and that made Beau happy. 

Molly was a weird one, because Beau couldn’t learn shit about them. It wasn’t a matter of like, him being shady or anything either, but even _he_ didn’t know shit about himself, either. Turns out they woke up in the middle of the hospital, completely amnesiac, on the day of the outbreak, and managed to wander his lucky ass out unscathed. Then he ran into Yasha, who helped him, and they’ve been stuck like glue ever since. Them and Beau clashed a lot, not because they had opposing ideas or anything but just because of personality types. They’d both get over it pretty quick, though. 

Jester is the last person she learns about, and yeah, maybe it’s because Beau was avoiding her, but fuck you. It’s hard to avoid someone you share a room with more often than not though, so really it was only a matter of time. 

“Hey, Beau?”

Beau hums from where she stretches on the floor. They’ve bunked down in an abandoned house for the night.

“What did you do before everything went, ya know, tits up?” Jester asks as she sketches in a little journal.

“I was a martial arts teacher and professional fighter.” Beau hear’s Jester gasp.

“That’s so _cool_ , Beau! It also explains why you’re so good at kicking butt. Did you have your own dojo-thing??” Beau tenses at the question. Heat presses against the back of her eyes. She sits up from her stretch and presses her palms there for a moment before letting out shaky sigh.

“I’m...I’m sorry, Beau,” and suddenly Jester is there with a hand on her arm, “I didn’t mean to upset you.”

Beau takes another deep breath and puts her arms down, feeling like she’s hopefully not going to dissolve into tears at any moment.

“It’s alright, Jess. I worked at my mentor’s gym. They’re name was Dairon. She uh. She got bit, saving me.” And _fuck_ if that doesn’t hurt her in the worst way. She finally finds someone who takes pride in her and she gets them killed. Go figure.

“Beau...look at me.” There’s warm fingers under her chin, guiding Beau’s gaze towards Jester’s.

“It’s not your fault. Do you blame Yasha for what happened with her wife?” Beau flinches at the question, and she feels a little offended.

‘Of course not!”

“Then why do you blame yourself for Dairon’s?” Jester asks the question with intense sincerity, and Beau goes to reply but finds that the words refuse to come to her...because she doesn’t have any. Beau tries to look away but Jester holds her fast.

“It’s not your fault. Say it. Say ‘It’s not my fault’, Beau.”

Beau feels the heat behind her eyes return and this time she has no way of stopping the tears that stream from the corners. It takes a few moments, but finally she takes a deep breath and,

“It’s not my fault.”

Jester smiles, Beau sees there’s unshed tears in her eyes, too, and that gets Beau crying more than anything else because she’s pretty sure no one has ever cried _for_ her. Jester pulls her into a tight hug and Beau’s tears soak into her roommates shirt, but the pain is easing and in its place there’s something warmer replacing it.

X-x-X

It’s been another week since the outbreak, and the group’s gained two members, a super short woman named Veth, and a scruffy, red headed German guy named Caleb. Jester and Veth become thick as thieves almost immediately, and Jester learns that despite Veth’s upbeat and maybe a little chaotic personality, she’s had a rough go of it as well. Veth was in the city picking up supplies for her husband’s shop in the countryside when the Outbreak happened. It’s been a month since she’s seen her husband and son, and that hurts Jester’s heart. She hasn’t been able to talk to her own mama in two weeks, since the cell towers went out, and she misses her more than anything in the world. 

The man, Caleb, is quiet and bookish. He stinks a bit, but then again they all do really. Running water has become a luxury. He has a backpack that has more books than food, and some of the others gave him shit for that, _Fjord_ , but Jester was quick to shut them down. After all, what’s the point of surviving if you aren’t living? 

Veth is talking to Caduceus and Caleb about her son around the fireplace. They’ve settled in at another abandoned house. Jester’s not paying attention, and she feels a little guilty because it’d probably make Veth feel better if she did, but her heart’s been heavy all day. Beau knows, she thinks. She’s been giving Jester small, reassuring smiles throughout the day, and Jester never has to look far to catch her gaze. 

It’s comforting. It makes her feel warm, and safe. It makes her feel _loved._ But that’s a little silly, isn’t it? Because Beau probably doesn’t love her. Why does that make her feel so sad?

Jester starts exploring the room. It’s modestly decorated; There’s paintings of landscapes and pottery, and photographs on almost every surface. Jester stops as one catches her eye. It was a picture of a mother and daughter on a beach, and Jester _knows_ that beach because far in the distance is the Temple of Apollo. This picture was taken on _her_ island, on Naxos, and suddenly there’s a burning pressure behind her eyes as it hits her just how much she misses her mama. 

She takes a deep breath and places the picture face-down, reigns in her emotions just enough to give a rushed, “I’m-feeling-pretty-tired-actually-guys-so-I-think-I’m-going-to-bed-goodnight!”, before heading towards the room she and Beau had claimed as their own. 

She lays down on the bed and buries her face in the pillow to muffle the quiet sobs. She gets a few minutes alone before there’s a quiet knock and the door opens. Jester very quickly tries to get a hold of herself. She’s semi successful.

“Jessie?” Beau asks, and Jester doesn’t understand it, but she’s relieved it’s her. Already the ache in her chest eases just a bit.

“Hey, Beau.”

“You alright?”

“Mhmm. Just tired.” And Jester thinks she’s a pretty good liar, but she can tell Beau sees right through the facade. Jester figures that should irritate her more than it does, but she can’t find the energy. Beau steps in fully and closes the door before sitting on the mattress next to her.

“It’s just us, Jessie. Talk to me.” Beau’s voice, usually so gruff and loud, is soft and quiet. It almost reminds Jester of Yasha.

“It’s childish.” 

“Jester,” Beau chuckles and runs a soothing hand down her back, “Fjord and Veth spent an hour during dinner trying to flick canned peas into Molly’s mouth with a spoon. It’s okay to be childish.”

“...I miss my mamá.” Jester buries her face back in the pillow and gives a shuddering sob. She hears a small “oh”, and then suddenly Beau is lying there with her and holding her and running her calloused fingers through her bobbed hair, and keeps doing so until Jester manages to calm down. 

For a while, they sit in silence. Jester feels warm, chapped lips press against her forehead, and that feeling is back, of being _loved_ , and Jester can’t help but wonder _what if…?_

“You know,” Jester feels Beau speak through her chest more than hear it, “Veth seemed a little better after talking about Luc tonight. Do you want to tell me about your mom? Only if you want to of course, no pressure-” 

Jester presses a soft kiss to the corner of her mouth. Its quick and chaste but it’s enough to stop Beau’s panicked spiral. There’s an anxious flutter in her chest as she hopes she hasn’t crossed a line, but then Beau’s grinning the dopiest smile Jester’s ever seen and she knows she was reading the signals right.

“Me and my mamá are from this little island in Greece called Naxos, but we had to move here because I accidentally pissed off this one politician and stuff, so now she lives in-” Jester starts from the beginning, because why not, and there’s a warmth in her chest as Beau watches her with rapt attention and pure adoration.

Jester can’t help but wonder _what if…_

_This is what love feels like?_

X-x-X

So, Beau fucked up. They were a little lost, out in the middle of nowhere, but Jester was positive they were close to her mom’s place, so clearly the smartest thing to do was find high ground and go from there. 

Except they’re in the plains. There isn’t a ‘high-ground’, but there is a cluster of big ass trees off the road, and Beau has climbed her fair share of trees in her day (and by in her day she means when she was like 8 and trying to hide from her shitty parents). So maybe, it’s been a fuckin while, alright?

How was she supposed to know the branch was rotted? 

One second she’s got a good grip, a stable foot hold, and the next she’s plummeting 25 feet down an oak tree. For a split second, she’s pissed, because like. Are you fucking kidding? She’s survived zombies upon zombies, apocalyptic bandits, like, 5 concussions, and _jail_ , and a god damn _tree_ is what kills her? 

Bullshit.

She hits a few branches on the way down, and then hits the ground with a resounding crack. Her vision goes white with pain, then black with fading consciousness. Strangely, her last thoughts are on Yasha and Zuala. _Sorry, Jessie._

.

.

.

Someone is speaking. It’s muffled and garbled and just sounds _off_. Beau tries to open her eyes, but everything’s fuzzy and echoey and it’s making her stomach turn. She closes them, and feels herself drifting.

.

.

.

The voice is back, and this time it’s a bit clearer. She still can’t understand it, but she’d know Jester’s voice anywhere. Speaking rapidly in what Beau can only assume is Greek. Another voice replies in the same language, but slower and an octave or two lower. It sounds soothing. Beau tries to open her eyes again, and is surprised that there’s a lot less resistance this time. She blinks a few times to adjust to the light. For a moment, she thinks she sees a raven in the window, but the next time she blinks, it’s gone.

Huh.

Beau glances to the source of the voices and locks eyes with who Beau can tell immediately is Jester’s mother. She looks a lot like Jester (or the other way around, Beau supposes), but long black hair, no tattoos, and faint wrinkles around dark brown eyes. 

“Oh, Φαίνεται ότι ο φίλος σου είναι ξύπνιος, Jester.” The woman says with a gentle smile. Jester’s head whips around so fast Beau worries she’s sprained something, and then Jester is there hugging her. 

It’s nice, until it’s not. Beau’s entire torso is on fire, and she wheezes. Jester immediately lets go.

“Oh shit! Beau I’m so sorry, you’re really hurt and I shouldn’t have done that, I was just so scared and I thought you were gonna die and I-”

Beau grabs her hoodie with the arm that hurts less and pulls her down into a kiss. Somewhere at the foot of the bed she hears the surprised laugh of Marion Lavorre. Beau pulls away slowly, and Jester rests their foreheads together. 

“I love you, Jessie.” Beau says, with the most honest smile she’s probably ever given. Jester gasps, and matches it ten fold. She kisses her again.

“I love you, too, Beau.”

X-x-X

3 Months Later

Mamá and Blude had heard about the outbreak almost as soon as it had happened, thanks to the news on the T.V. Blude had wasted no time in barricading the tall iron gates that surrounded the mansion. The kitchen’s were never empty in the Lavorre household, but Blude had made sure to ration out anything that was perishable first, before relying on the non-perishables. There’s also Mamá’s huge garden, which unlike Caduceus’ small planter, is overflowing with life, fruits and vegetables ready for the picking. 

Jester feels more at ease than she has in a long time, before the outbreak, even. She loves her home, and her mamá, and Blude, but just the three of them in this big house could still feel lonely sometimes. 

Now though, she had her new family, too, to fill the empty rooms, and the woman she loved to warm hers. Beau is still healing from the tree incident. Her ribs and arm were pretty wrecked in the fall, but Jester and Caduceus kept her together long enough for them to get home and give her some real help.

Now, Beau could be up and about so long as she didn’t over do it. There was a storm one night that left Beau in a lot of pain, but Jester spoke to her in hushed whispers, massaged where it ached until she finally drifted off.

They say “I love you” a lot, not always in words. Sometimes it’s a kiss to the top of the head, or a reminder to drink more water. Sometimes it’s a squeeze of the hand or a cheeky slap to the ass. Sometimes it’s drying tears and laughing so hard at shenanigans that Beau’s pretty sure she re-busted a rib. 

In this moment though, “I love you” is being said by Jester through an aimless, melodic humming. The sun’s starting to set, but there’s probably a half hour or so of light left. Beau’s curled against her and reading a book softly aloud. They’re swaying lazily in a hammock and enjoying the mid-autumn breeze, and distantly, there’s the tinkling of a windchime and the raucous laughter of their friends. Jester smiles, and can’t help but think,

_This is what love feels like._


End file.
